Secretary of the Interior Stewart L. Udall today approved a plan proposed by the Crow Indian Tribe of Montana for using a judgment fund of over $9 million awarded to the Tribe by the Indian Claims Commission.
Under the Tribe's plan, the money will be used for a variety of economic development programs.
One million dollars will be set aside for land purchases involving mainly those tracts that are needed to round out farm and range units.
Another $1 million will be set up as a revolving fund to assure fair and economic returns for lands disadvantageously leased under the Crow Competency Act and to recapture for the Indians' use such of these lands as the individual owners may need for their economic and social betterment.
A third sum of $1 million will be used for industrial and other economic development projects on the reservation to provide jobs for landless and other under-employed tribal members.
In addition, $4,350,000 will be available for the social and economic development of Crow families with the understanding that such funds shall be used solely for producing substantial and lasting benefits such as better housing, higher education or capital improvements on farm or ranching enterprises. These funds will not be available, Secretary Udall stressed, for the purchase of nonessential items such as automobiles, or for current living costs.
The approved plan also provides $275,000 for a tribal credit expansion program, $200,000 for education, $120,000 for a multi-purpose tribal building program, and $100,000 for law enforcement.
Unrestricted per capita payments of $100 to each tribal member, totaling $435,000 were approved by Secretary Udall shortly before Christmas. An additional $100 per capital distribution will be made this month and a $50 distribution in March.
The proposal approved by Secretary Udall today was embodied in ten resolutions approved by the Crow Tribal Council on February 2.
